Dust Collector #2: The final solution - completed.

Well, this is the second and final part of my dust collector retro-fit.

Here you can see the two boxed as I recieved them:..

Here they are unpacked and stacked. I removed the Dust Dog label. I figured that it didn’t do anything but restrict air flow. It came off easily..

Here you can see the handle that created some confusion in the first part of this blog...

As the handle is rotated it makes these “paddles” brush against the pleats of the filterknocking off the dust into the bottom bag...

There is a difference in the middle section. First of all it’s a larger diameter, plus it doesn’t have the corkscrew like the old one...

Since this is not a Jet dust collector I am retro-fitting I had to add 2 new holes on each side

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Here it is completed minus the lower bag and canister mounted. Took a total of about 1/2 an hour to get to this point. The green tape is on the inside and outside to seal up the unused holes.

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Here it is all completed and in place...

There were a few other issues. The old lower bag could not be used since the diameter is larger and it doesn’t have the lip (in the lower part of the middle drum) to to retain it using the strap.

It came with 5 heavy gauge plastic bags and a band that fits on the inside on the drum instead of the outside. Interesting design and kind of a pain to install the bag but I guess I’ll get used to it.I hate the idea of having to keep buying expensive plastic bags so I will work something out to eliminate that need.

My cloth bag does fit on the inside diameter so I’ll figure out something.

All in all it was a simple and less expensive way to move up to a canister filter vs buying an entire new system.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX

23 comments so far

I’m curious why you didn’t consider a stand alone cyclone separator? It’s possible that space is limited but in all honesty, they really work slick.I made this one in a morning and elimnated the bag cleaning fiasco as nothing much gets by the cyclone.Bob

Gary, let me know how you like the canister filter… I purchased the 708639 which is the DC-1100A… it uses the standard canvas bag type filter at the top but I believe to upgrade at a later date all I would need to do is purchase the canister filter itself… the bell housing appears to be a common part between the DC-1100A and the DC-1100CK… I find it odd that the paddles inside only touch the center third of the pleated filter… it would seem to me that this would only benefit that center third leaving the upper and lower thirds clogged…

-- Looking for free wood working plans? Visit us at www.AwlFreePlans.com

I sympathise with you on fitting the plastic dust bags. I just use some duct tape to hold the front in place, whilst I work the rest of the bag around the waist of the collector. An alternate solution is to grow a 3rd arm and hand.

Similar to Bob, I use a secondary collector to collect all the big bits, whilst the plastic bag collects all the fine dust, I only have to empty the plastic bags 2 times a year (and they are only about a third full), whilst the secondary collector is emptied of it litres (158 gallon) about 5 times a year for all the work I do.

For the plastic bag disposal, I just take the dust to the garbage disposal depot and throw the dust into the general garbage – and bring the bags home. With the chips I either mix them with my grass cuttings to make compost, or if I get too many then off to the recycling centre and dump the chips into the compost heap and the bags come home again for a second, third….....use (repairs are made with duct tape – until the duct tape =>> than the plastic bag).

Great upgrade. I know the filters have to make a lot of difference from a bag. I still have everything on separate bags on each tool or nothing at all. I can only dream of the day I feel the suction of a dust collector pulling dust down and away into something besides the garage floor.

If you have a high micron top filter (the canister) and a low micron bottom filter (canvas bag) you will defeat the purpose of the high micron filter. The plastic bags are impermeable and that is on purpsoe.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Honestly, if you don’t need them to be clear, you can pickup the black contractor trash bag at the blue or orange box for a decent cost (you can’t see though the canvas either) and should be more than tough enough for the job. The thing that I am wanting to do is get the lid and a metal trash can to turn mine into pseudo two stage system. That is first then I am looking at either a canister filter upgrade or jumping up to a small cyclone.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"